Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2: All right, let's head now over to Capitol Hill in Washington, DC,
Speaker 2: where Bloomberg's Balance of Power co host Joe Matthew has
Speaker 2: an exclusive interview with the House Minority Leader, Hakim Jeffries,
Speaker 2: and they'll be talking about healthcare.
Speaker 1: Indeed, thanks for joining us live from Capitol Hill on
Speaker 1: Bloomberg TV and Radio. On Joe Matthew with an exclusive
Speaker 1: conversation with the Democratic leader in the House of Representatives,
Speaker 1: Hakim Jeffries of New York. Leader Jeffries, thanks for being
Speaker 1: back with us on Bloomberg.
Speaker 3: It's good to see you.
Speaker 1: One thing, Joe, good, pretty important ruling in the Supreme
Speaker 1: Court when it comes to redistricting in the state of
Speaker 1: Texas that I'd like to start with here. Its open
Speaker 1: season apparently on redistricting. Does that mean every Democratic led
Speaker 1: state in the country needs to redraw their maps?
Speaker 3: Well, first of all, it's unfortunate that Supreme Court has
Speaker 3: rubber stamp a racially jerry mandered extreme map that Donald
Speaker 3: Trump ordered Texas republickeends to engineer as part of his
Speaker 3: effort to try to rig the midterm elections in twenty
Speaker 3: twenty six, but notwithstanding this adverse ruling, we're going to
Speaker 3: continue to move forward and ensure that there is a
Speaker 3: fair map across the country. California voters enacted Prop fifty,
Speaker 3: and as a result, we'll have a fair map in
Speaker 3: California with some additional opportunities to be competitive, and I
Speaker 3: expect that you'll see other states across the country continue
Speaker 3: to respond.
Speaker 1: Will yours be one of them? Are you on the
Speaker 1: phone with Governor Hokel today saying it's time to redraw
Speaker 1: the New York map?
Speaker 3: Well, the New York map has some particularities relative to
Speaker 3: the Constitution that won't necessarily allow it to be revisited
Speaker 3: in this particular cycle. But some voters have filed a
Speaker 3: lawsuit in New York and we're monitoring that litigation closely
Speaker 3: to see what the outcome may be.
Speaker 1: Okay, there's a question about whether you really need it,
Speaker 1: Leader Jeffries. After the special election in Tennessee on Tuesday,
Speaker 1: we saw a plus twenty two Trump districts go down
Speaker 1: to a plus nine Trump district And you've got a
Speaker 1: lot of armchair mathematicians out there suggesting that could meet
Speaker 1: as many as thirty or thirty five seats for Democrats
Speaker 1: in the midterms.
Speaker 3: How do you see it, Well, Republicans know that if
Speaker 3: the elections were held today, they would lose. That's the
Speaker 3: reason why Donald Trump has decided to engage in this
Speaker 3: extreme effort to jerrymander congressional maps all across the country,
Speaker 3: and it's very unfortunate. Our view is that we're not
Speaker 3: going to unilaterally disarm, and we have to ensure that
Speaker 3: there's a fair map nationally across the board, so that
Speaker 3: it's the voters who get to decide who is in
Speaker 3: the majority after the November twenty, twenty sixth election. Part
Speaker 3: of the challenge with Republicans is that they've broken all
Speaker 3: of their promises. They indicated that they were going to
Speaker 3: lower cost in fact lower costs on day one, costs
Speaker 3: having gone down in America, costs have gone up housing
Speaker 3: costs or through the roof, grocery prices through the roof,
Speaker 3: electricity bills through the roof. And now, because my Republican
Speaker 3: colleagues refuse to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits,
Speaker 3: we know tens of millions of people are about to
Speaker 3: experience dramatically increase health care costs. Democrats are actually the
Speaker 3: party focused on driving down the high cost of living.
Speaker 1: So let's talk about a couple of those points of
Speaker 1: leverage that you just pointed out, affordability and healthcare. Many
Speaker 1: would argue that it's kind of the same story here.
Speaker 1: President Trump has been saying that affordability is a Democrat hoax,
Speaker 1: a Democrat con job. Does that mean you do not
Speaker 1: have Republicans on board with you in reforming healthcare or
Speaker 1: extending Obamacare subsidies?
Speaker 3: It appears that way. It's unfortunate that the President's position,
Speaker 3: which is the Republican parties position, is that the affordability
Speaker 3: crisis in the United States of America is a con
Speaker 3: job and it's a hoax. No, what was a con
Speaker 3: job and hoax was the fact that Republicans spent all
Speaker 3: of last year claiming that they were going to lower
Speaker 3: the high cost of living in the United States of America,
Speaker 3: that they were a party committed to addressing the inflationary
Speaker 3: pressure that the American people were under. That's all they
Speaker 3: talked tobut out last year. But they lied to the voters.
Speaker 3: That's the con job. They're lied. They absolutely lied to
Speaker 3: the voters. Because there's no evidence throughout this year that
Speaker 3: they've had any intention to actually address the affordability crisis
Speaker 3: that exists. In fact, they now say it's all a hoax.
Speaker 3: But everyday Americans when they go to the grocery store,
Speaker 3: the supermarket, when they see their healthcare premiums dramatically increasing,
Speaker 3: when they see the electricity bills that they have, which
Speaker 3: are through the roof, in part because Republicans in their
Speaker 3: one big Ugly Bill attacked the clean energy economy At
Speaker 3: a time in America where we have growing power needs.
Speaker 3: In terms of what we see with the expansion of
Speaker 3: artificial intelligence, it's all extraordinary. So Republican leadership has made
Speaker 3: it clear they have no intention to extend the Affordable
Speaker 3: Care AC tax credits, and that's very unfortunate.
Speaker 1: You know, if the White House would say hold on,
Speaker 1: leader Jeffries. This president's been working over time to cut
Speaker 1: deals to lower the cost of prescription drugs, deserve credit
Speaker 1: for that effort.
Speaker 3: We haven't seen any evidence that prescription drug prices have
Speaker 3: gone down in any meaningful way. What we have seen
Speaker 3: that the Trump terrorist are out of control. They've increased
Speaker 3: costs by thousands of dollars per year on everyday Americans,
Speaker 3: and they've created an uncertain environment for businesses and corporations
Speaker 3: throughout the country. And we know that uncertainty is one
Speaker 3: of the biggest problems that American corporations and companies may face.
Speaker 3: It's difficult to actually make investments when you have this
Speaker 3: chaotic environment that has been visited upon the economy.
Speaker 1: So let's talk about what you can get done before
Speaker 1: the expiration of these subsidies at the end of the month.
Speaker 1: A bill was introduced yesterday, a framework that was bipartisan.
Speaker 1: A Democrat and a Republican Gotttheimer and Kiggins. It would
Speaker 1: extend these subsidies for a year and put new callers
Speaker 1: on eligibility. Is this a path to renewal in your eyes?
Speaker 3: Well, we'll have to take a look at the particulars
Speaker 3: in the four corners of that bill. Two hundred and
Speaker 3: fourteen Democrats have signed the discharged position that will extend
Speaker 3: the Affordable Care Act tax credits for three years and
Speaker 3: give the American people the certainty that they need in
Speaker 3: order to move forward during these otherwise uncertain times. All
Speaker 3: we need are four Republicans. They're two hundred and nineteen
Speaker 3: of them. All we need are four House Republicans to
Speaker 3: join us and we can extend the Affordable Care Act
Speaker 3: tax credits. We also want to take a look at
Speaker 3: what happens in the Senate. I'm thankful for lead to
Speaker 3: Schumer and Senate Democrats who will put a bill forward
Speaker 3: next week and force an up and down vote on
Speaker 3: an extension of the Affordable Care Act tax credits. We're
Speaker 3: in this fight until we win this fight on behalf
Speaker 3: of the American people, because in the wealthiest country in
Speaker 3: the history of the world, it cannot be the case
Speaker 3: that working class Americans and middle class Americans are unable
Speaker 3: to afford to go see a doctor when they need one.
Speaker 1: Are you in touch with the Speaker of the House
Speaker 1: on This is Mike Johnson talking to you about a
Speaker 1: potential vote after john fun promised a vote on healthcare
Speaker 1: in the Senate for next Thursday.
Speaker 3: You know, the big challenge with House Republicans has been
Speaker 3: that they've adopted a my way of the highway approach.
Speaker 3: They have zero interests in actually sitting down and finding
Speaker 3: a bipartisan path forward. We've said from the very beginning
Speaker 3: of this year and throughout the Trump Republicans shutdown, that
Speaker 3: we will sit down with anyone, anytime, any place, here
Speaker 3: in the Capitol, or go back to the White House
Speaker 3: sit with the President to try to figure out how
Speaker 3: we can fix our broken healthcare system and address the
Speaker 3: Republican created healthcare crisis that's devastating people all across America.
Speaker 3: They've refused repeatedly to sit down and even try to
Speaker 3: find common ground, apparently because they really are uninterested in
Speaker 3: dealing with an extension Intoffordable Care Act tax credits. Joe.
Speaker 3: As you know, this is the same group of people
Speaker 3: who have actually tried to repeal the Affordable Care Act
Speaker 3: more than seventy times over the last fifteen years.
Speaker 1: So could we be in a world in which there's
Speaker 1: a healthcare bill that passes the Senate and dies in
Speaker 1: the House.
Speaker 3: Well, if there's a bill that as the Senate, there
Speaker 3: will be tremendous pressure on Mike Johnson, Stieve Scalice and
Speaker 3: House Republicans to bring that bill to the floor for
Speaker 3: an up and down vote, and the votes will exist
Speaker 3: in the House of Representatives. I call upon some of
Speaker 3: my Republican colleagues, more traditional conservative colleagues, or the so
Speaker 3: called swing seat Republicans, to actually press their leadership to
Speaker 3: give the people of this country an up or down
Speaker 3: vote on something meaningful that will extend the Affordable Care
Speaker 3: Act tax credits.
Speaker 1: Just lastly, President Trump today will be receiving we understand
Speaker 1: the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize. Does Donald Trump deserve credit,
Speaker 1: as he says, for ending eight wars?
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's unclear what eight wars he's talking about. What
Speaker 3: the American people clearly want to see from this president
Speaker 3: is action related to the challenges that we face in
Speaker 3: this country. Lowering the high cost of living, fixing our
Speaker 3: broken healthcare system, making life better for everyday Americans. That's
Speaker 3: the democratic commitment that we actually should deliver on the
Speaker 3: promises that Republicans made to lower the high cost to
Speaker 3: live in but refuse to address in a country that's
Speaker 3: the wealthiest in the history of the world, but there
Speaker 3: are far too many people who are struggling to live
Speaker 3: paycheck to paycheck, can't thrive, can barely survive, and that
Speaker 3: should not be the case in this great country. We
Speaker 3: should allow for a situation where every single person who
Speaker 3: works hard and plays by the rules can afford to
Speaker 3: live a comfortable life, live the good life, good paying job,
Speaker 3: good house and good health care, good education for your children,
Speaker 3: and ultimately, at the end of the day, a good retirement.
Speaker 3: That's the American dream. We need to bring it to
Speaker 3: life for every single.
Speaker 1: American Democratic leader in the House. Hockeim Jeffrey's leader. Thank
Speaker 1: you for being with us today. Once again on Bloomberg.
Speaker 3: Thank you.